[The sect leader did not notice your expression. She raised her hand and stuffed another book into your hands. You looked down: "Azure Wood Art."]
[An internal cultivation method and an external art, both obtained just like that?]
[While you were still floating in a daze, at a loss for what to do, the sect leader had already arranged everything for you: "For the next three months, you're not allowed to practice anything else. Just practice this Qi Guiding Art. Lay a solid foundation first, and the road ahead will be smooth! As for the external art, train as hard as you like. Our Green Bamboo Sect has more herbs for healing the body than anything else. Use them without worry."]
[You looked down at the worn booklet in your hands. Its cover was nearly worn through, its corners curled, but when you opened it, every word inside was perfectly clear. At crucial points, there were even little annotations in red ink: "Easy to get wrong here," "Slowly," "Focus your mind on the dantian."]
[How was this any different from a top student's notes?]
[Your nose prickled. You felt so lucky, and you were deeply moved.]
["What are you standing there for?" The sect leader nudged your foot with hers. "Go practice! There's an open space in the back courtyard where no one will disturb you. I'll have your eldest senior brother bring you lunch."]
[On your second day in the Green Bamboo Sect, you officially began cultivating.]
[Three months later, the sect leader checked your pulse again. Seemingly pleased with your efforts over those three months, she gave you another internal cultivation method: "Green Bamboo Formula."]
[As she spoke, the sect leader's expression grew unusually serious: "The Green Bamboo Formula and Azure Wood Art have only ever been taught to successive sect leaders. But I think there's no harm in giving them to you."]
[You froze. "Sect leader, this..."]
[The sect leader waved her hand. "Enough of that. Since you've joined our Green Bamboo Sect, you're one of our disciples. Who knows how many more years these old bones of mine can hold out? Those two good-for-nothings will need you to look after them in the future."]
[You opened your mouth, wanting to say something, but the sect leader firmly pressed a hand onto your shoulder.]
["Listen. The Green Bamboo Formula is harder to cultivate than the Azure Wood Art, but its ceiling is higher too. Get a firm grasp of the Azure Wood Art before you touch this." She paused, then added, "There's no rush. You're only nineteen. You have plenty of time."]
[You nodded and tucked both booklets securely inside your clothes, close to your body.]
[The days passed like that, one after another.]
[You settled into the Green Bamboo Sect. Apart from cultivating every day, you helped your eldest senior brother catch birds and cleaned up your second senior brother's messes.]
[Your eldest senior brother, Qing Yun, did not have a high cultivation level, but he was a decent person. Knowing how hard you trained, he brought you wild fruit and mountain produce every few days. Your second senior brother, Qingfeng, returned from the foot of the mountain once with a large bag of pastries, saying they were a welcoming gift for you, only to eat half of them himself first.]
[The sect leader came to check your progress every so often, always calling you stupid while teaching you hand over hand. Sometimes, when you practiced incorrectly, she stamped her feet in anger, but she still appeared on time the next day to keep teaching you.]
[For the first time, you felt the happiness of having a master.]
[In the fifth year, you were twenty. You successfully broke through to the Houtian Second Stage, so quickly that even you found it absurd.]
[Perhaps because you had entered the Houtian realm, the probability of drawing a white trait became 97%. That year, you drew a green trait.]
[Abundant Qi and Blood (green): after an injury, your wounds will heal slightly faster.]
Hmm, somewhat useful.
But most importantly, this was only the fifth time chopping a tree in this simulation! And a green trait had already dropped!
Jiang Mi checked the probability of white traits dropping from chopping trees again. Could a mere two-percentage-point decrease really be this effective?
Cultivating was great. I had to cultivate diligently!
[You spent longer and longer cultivating, without neglecting your body tempering. At the end of each day, you were exhausted in body and mind. Lying in the medicinal bath barrel the sect leader had prepared for you, you felt threads of herbal power seep into every limb and bone, so comfortable that you did not even want to move a finger.]
[Every time you finished soaking, a layer of black, foul-smelling sludge emerged from your body that night. The sect leader already knew all about this. She prepared disposable straw mats for you, and there was hot water for you to bathe at night.]
[Everyone in the Green Bamboo Sect cared for you in every possible way!]
[There was just one thing that puzzled you.]
[The Qi-Nourishing Art clearly said that practicing external arts made a person sturdier, yet you were becoming fairer and fairer, and your skin had grown considerably softer. After these years of training, even your fingers, once roughened by hard labor, had become smooth and delicate.]
[Your cultivation realm was already equal to your eldest senior brother Qing Yun's, yet the sect leader had never let you learn any martial techniques or fight anyone. Whenever you asked, she waved her hand. "There's no rush. Your foundation matters most. There will be plenty of time to learn martial techniques later."]
[In the seventh year, you were twenty-two. Your cultivation broke through to the Houtian Third Stage.]
[While chopping a tree that year, you obtained another green trait, Lightness-your movement skills improved slightly, letting you jump higher and run faster.]
[Unfortunately, you could not swap traits, or you really would have liked to equip it and give it a try.]
[In the thirteenth year, you were twenty-eight.]
[Under the sect leader's attentive care, you smoothly broke through to the Houtian Fourth Stage. This was a joyous occasion for the entire Green Bamboo Sect. The sect leader was so happy that she could not stop grinning, and, for once, she had your second senior brother go down the mountain to buy ten jin of meat, saying you should all celebrate properly.]
[Without another word, your eldest senior brother Qing Yun went up the mountain and caught two wild chickens. For once, your second senior brother Qingfeng did not sneak any food and obediently carried the meat into the kitchen, although he still ended up cutting it into uneven chunks. You took charge of the cooking. Over the years, you had learned to cook in between training sessions. After all, you could not always rely on those two unreliable senior brothers.]
[The meal was lively and cheerful.]
[After the meal, you tendered your resignation to the sect leader, saying you wanted to visit your godmother.]
[You did not mention the real purpose of this trip. In fact, you only got halfway through speaking, because you noticed that the expressions of your sect leader and master and your two senior brothers had suddenly changed. The air fell terrifyingly silent in an instant.]
Outside the window, the moonlight flowed like water, a beautiful sight.
Yet Jiang Mi, lying in bed, felt ice-cold all over. Although she still did not know what had happened, they clearly were not letting her leave.
What kind of decent place was easy to enter but hard to leave?!
At that thought, Jiang Mi once again felt grateful for the education her country had given her.
If nothing else, being able to become wary upon realizing this place was "easy to enter but hard to leave" was already enough.
She had a feeling that this wariness might save her life!
[Everything you had previously sensed was wrong surfaced in that instant.]
[They never let you practice martial techniques, never let you engage in actual combat. Qing Yun had a longsword, and Qingfeng had a fine saber. Only you... you, the Green Bamboo Sect's prodigy who received so much attention, actually had nothing!]
[Seven years. Seven whole years.]
[You were like a canary kept in a cage, fed the finest food, soaked in the most expensive medicinal baths, and taught the most central cultivation arts, yet no one had ever taught you how to fight, how to kill, or how to survive in this world where the strong devoured the weak.]
[Why?]
[Because you had no need to learn any of that? Or had you never been a disciple in their eyes at all?]
Before you continue